Electrical connecting device



March 17. 1925.

L. G. PACENT ELEQTRICAL commune DEVICE Filed March 20, 1923' 2Sheets-Sheet l 5i v A ATTORNEYS -L. G. PACENT ELECTRICAL CONNECTINGDEVICE Filed March 20 1 N VENTOR 10 able others Patented Mar. 17, 1925.i

' UNITED- STATES LOUIS G. PACENT, .OF WINFIELD,

NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR 1,530,011 PATENT OFFICE.

T0 PACENT ELECTRIC COM- PANY, INC, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OFNEW YORK.

ELECTRICAL CONNECTING DEVICE.

Application filed March 20, 1923. Serial No. 626,284.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, LOUIS G. PACENT, a citizen of the United States,residing at Winfield, in the county of Queens, State of New York,'haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Electrical ConnectingDevices; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact de scription of the invention, such as will enskilled in the artto which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates, in general, to electrical connecting devices,and, more particularly, spring jacks.

adio receiving instruments, those of the less expensive variet are notordinarily piovided with spring jacks for connecting in the telephones,but are, on the contrary, usually provided with binding posts for thatpurpose'.' When it is desired to connect in more than one pair oftelephones, binding posts do not provide a convenient means for sodoing. This is particularly true in cases where it is frequentlydesirable .to alternately connect in one or a lurality of telephone setswithout a consi erable loss of time in eiiecting-the changeover.

The present invention has for its objec therefore, to provide a devicewhereby the number of telephone headsets connected to a radio receivinginstrument may be quickly and conveniently changed.

A further object is to provide a device of the character referred towhich is adapted to be easily connected to variously spaced or bindingposts on the reespecially fixed terminals ceiving instrument.

According'to the preferred embodiment of the invention, there isprovided a portable multiple spring jack rality of plugs may be insertedhaving adjustable connecting means whereby the device may be readilyconnected with variously spaced binding posts. The jack springs arepreferably so arranged and interconnected that when a plurality oftelephone sets are connected in by means of suitable plugs, they are inseries relation, but if conditions are such that parallel connec-' tionsare desired, the jack springs can be xeasily arranged accordin lywithout departmg from the spirit of t e invention. The adjustableconnecting means above referred to consists preferably of a pair ofrelativet, lowin moved. for the sa into which a plu-' ly rigid L-shape'dmetal stampings each having a slot in one leg extending parallel to itslength for facilitating lateral adjustments of the spacing between theother-legs of the metal stampingsthe last mentioned legs-being arranged'for connection to the binding posts. Suitable clamping screws and nutsare provided for securing the metal stampings in any position to whichthey may be adjusted. By assembling the metal stampings one way,connections may be made with very closely spaced fixed terminals, and byassembling them connections mav be made with quite widely spacedterminals. Thus it will be seen the invention provides for makingconnections with arbitrarily spaced terminals on the receivinginstrument by means of connectors having sufiicient stiffness to rigidlysupport the device.

The device may be designed to include as many jacks as desired withinreasonable limits. The specific devices hereinafter described eachincludes only two jacks, but it will be readily seen that similardevices including three or more jacks may be provided with equalfacility.

In the accompanying drawingand foldetailed description two alternativeembo iments of the invention are illustrated and described.

eferring to the drawings,

ig. V1 is an elevational view, partly in cross section, of a connectingdevice in accordance with this invention, a portion of the jacksupportin element having been refie of clearness;

ig. 2 is an inside elevational view of that portion of the jack which isnot shown in Fig. 1

Fig. 3 is an elevational view similar to Fig. 1 and differs therefromonly in that the metal stampings forming the connectmg media between-thejacks and the fixed terminals on the receiving instrument are shownassembled in reversearrangement as 1 view similar owm a p u in dottedone 0? the jacis;

supporting element" are perspective views of:

another way,

compared with the arrangement of Fig. 1;-

sectional view taken removed in order to more clearly illustrate b thestructure;

Fig. 9 is an inside elevational view of that portion of the supportingelement which is notshown in Fig.8;

Fig. 10 is a cross sectional view along the line 10-10 of ig. 8; and

Fig. 11 isan end view as observed fromthe top of Fig. 8.

' The preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figs. 1 to 5inclusive comprises a, member 1 which, for convenionce, is referred toas a supporting element. or housing member. The supporting'element 1 isdivided into two portions designated respectively 1 and 1". These arepreferably made of suitably molded dielectric material such as hardrubber or a phenolic condensation product. The portions 1" and 1" whenfitted together, as is best illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5, definechambers or recesses enclosing jack springs 2 and 3. Jack spring 2 whichis shown in perspective in Fig. 7, is L -shaped, and is secured to theportion 1" of the su porting element by means of a screw 4. lack springs3 are likewise secured to the portion 1 by means of the clamping screw5. The free end portions 2 and 290i jack spring 2 normally engage theirrespectively associated jack springs 3. The supporting element 1 isprovided with a air of apertures 1 of suitable size for gui in theconnecting plugs into engagement wit the jack springs, as shown in Fig.5.

In order to facilitate connecting this device with arbitrarily spacedbinding posts, the spacing of which may vary considerably, a pair ofL-shaped stamped metal conducting members 6 are provided. One leg ofeach of these conducting members is provided with a slot 6 through whichthe clamping screw 5 extends. Each clamping screw is provided with awing nut 7 and preferably with a pair of washers 8. By

' loosening the wing nuts 7 the conducting members 6 may be movedtoward-oraway from each other, thus varying the distance between theirfree ends, which, in the present instance,are bifurcated forfacilitating connections ith the binding posts. When the conductingmembers are arranged as shown in Fig. 1, their free ends cannot beseparated by any considerable amount, as will be clear from aconsideration of the drawing, but they can be moved very closelytogether. These members may be turned about as shown in Fig. 3, in whichposition they are adapted to be connected with bind ing pcsts quitewidely spaced. While the spacing between the free ends of the conductingmembers 6 is not particularly large, as illustrated in Fig. 3, it willbe understood that this may be increased to any desired extent byincreasing the length of the slotted leg of one or both conductingmemers.

Since the jack springs are normally in contact and connected in series,the insertion of a plug into either jack connects it across theterminals to which the device is connected. The insertion of anadditional plug in the other jack connects the two plugs in series. Inother words, if two telephone headsets are connected'to the devicethrough the medium of their respective plugs, they are connected inseries across the terminals of the receiving instrument. Since the bestresults are usually obtained in radio reception by connecting thetelephones in series rather than in parallel, the jack springs have beenso arranged in the present instance. It is, however, an easy matter torearrange the contact s rings for parallel connections,

as will 'be rea ily understood by those skilled in the art.

The alternative structure illustrated in Figs. 8 to 11 inclusive diifersfrom the prefferred embodiment in inly in the substitution of asimplified conducting member 9 for the L-shaped conducting member 6 ofthe preferred embodiment. The conducting member 9, instead of beingprovided with a slotted leg for lateral adjustments, is simply pivotedon the clamping screw 5, and is adapted to be swung into any one. of aplurality of positions, as indicated by the dotted line showing in Fi 8.The wing nut 7 is eliminated in the a ternative structure, and clampingof the conducting members 9 in any position into which they may be setmay be effected by' turnin with a screw driver. plainnut 10 is providedfor engaging screw 5 in place of the wing nut 7. The-portion llcf the suporting element or housing member iifers slightly from the ortion 1 ofthe supporting element 1 in t at it is extended so as to match with thecontour of the portion 11".

The invention is ca able of great modification, and should not}construed as limited except by the scope of the appended claims.

I claim: v

1. A portable jack-strip comprising a plurality of spring jacks, ahousing member in which said jacks are mounted, a pair of rigid terminalconnectors secured to said housing member and projecting therefrom, thefree ends ,of said connectors being adapted for connection to bindingposts and adjustable toward and away from each other so that connectionscan be made to variously spaced binding posts, said connectors beingoperative to support said :housing member and jacks.

2. An electrical connectin device comprising a plurality of spring ackscombined 5 clamping screw 5 with a. common portable supporting olement,and means for connecting said device to fixed terminals, said means comrising at least one rigid conductin member avin a slot for permittinglaterfiadjustment, an

means for securing said rigid conducting member in any one of aplurality of positions, said rigid conducting member being adaptedforconnection to a fixed terminal.

- bers through the medium of sai 3" The combination-with aportable jackstrip including a plurality of spring jacks, of means for connecting thesaid 1acks to variously spaced fixed terminals, said means com rism apair of L-shaped relativeli ri i con ucting members, one is of ca 0 saidmembers being slotted para el to its length, clamping means engag' saidmemslots, -said clamping means being 0 rable to permit lateraladjustment of said members and securing said members in any of aplurality of positions.

fofi

4. An electrical connecting device comprising a portable supportingelement, a pair of spring jacks mounted adjacently on said supportingclement, said 1acks, conjointly, comprising a U-sbaped contact springmember .xvhi his secured at its middle pxortion to said supportingelement, each of t e free end portions of said U-sha ed contact springmember being individua to one of said jacks a second contact spring foreach of said acks normally in contact with their respectively associatedfree ends of the said U-shaped contact spring membet, a air of ajustable relatively rigid conducting members for connecting said jacksto fixed terminals andv clamping means for securin said conductingmembers in any of a p urality of ositions.

In testimony whereof I a my signature.

LOUIS G. PACENT.

